This is one of the forty training videos at LEAD Online.
Check out the training platform today and discover how to lead yourself, your family, your team, and your organization better than ever before.
12 tips for Church Planters
Five and a half years ago, our family answered Gods call, took the plunge, and planted a church. What started out as a handful of people gathering in our home, has now grown into a vibrant body of believers, giving our lives to bringing people to Jesus and helping them live like Him.
When it comes to planting a church or pastoring, I don’t in anyway have all of the answers. However, while walking along the church planting path, I’ve picked up on a few tips and truths, that I thought I would share with you.
12 tips for church planters:
If you can do anything else other than plant a church … do it.
If you are called to plant a church you literally will not be able to do anything else. The vision, the mission, the call of planting and pastoring this church will be the only thing you can do and actually be content.
Don’t expect everyone to always agree with the decisions you make.
As a Senior Pastor, deciding to plant the church is the first of many decisions you are going to have to make. When choosing what to do and not do, base your choices on what is right and what is wise, not on if everyone agrees. You have to be OK with not making everyone happy. Studies have shown that every decision you and I make in life is going to tick off 20% of the people we know. If that’s the case we might as well tick them off by doing what Jesus has told us to do.
Remember that your target audience is the lost … not the found.
Jesus said that he came to the world to ”Seek and Save the Lost”. Your church is like Jesus coming into a community. He wants to work thru you to “seek and save the lost”, not “borrow and steal the found”. So make your target market, people that are not already plugged into a church.
You already took a step of faith … now walk in wisdom.
Quitting your job, moving your family, taking a pay cut to plant the church was already a HUGE step of faith for you. Now as you lead your church you don’t have anything to prove to God or yourself … so walk in wisdom. Wisdom with finances, wisdom in staffing, wisdom with facilities. An element of faith is always involved for sure – but God’s wisdom will always lead you in steps not leaps.
Put emphasis on building a body not a building.
The Church is not a 501c3 not profit organization. The Church is not a building. The Church is people. The Church is People that are passionately pursuing and publicly proclaiming Jesus. Your greatest asset in ministry is not your finances. Your greatest asset is not your facility, your greatest asset is people. So as you plant the church, use your time, energy, and resources to build and gather your greatest ….people. When you build a body … the body will build the building.
Be relationally liberal but biblically conservative.
If you want to reach people you are going to have to be in relationship with them. That means if you want to reach lost people, you and your church are going to have to be in relationship with people that think, act, and believe differently than you do. However, as you are liberal with who you live life with, you have to stay conservative on how you live your life. Be friends with everyone, but as you are be sure that you always, believe, teach, and model the principles of Jesus.
Give people a chance to become owners not members.
Members have rights but owners have responsibilities. As a church planter you do not want members. Members are people that pay some money to have the right to sit down and tell other people what needs to be done. As Church planters we need owners. We need people that are not only financially invested but also physically alongside of us as we do the work of the ministry.
Understand your church is probably not as friendly as you think.
Of course you think your church is friendly. Your the pastor, everyone knows you, talks to you, wants to grab a coffee with you. But what about the person who is totally new, and doesn’t know anyone? Who greets them? Who talks with them? Who answers their questions or invites them out to coffee after service? Model friendliness, teach friendliness and set up systems where people are equipped and released to be friendly as well as follow up with newcomers each week.
Make systems that serve people … not people that serve systems.
Systems are meant to solve problems for people, but too many times systems are the problem that keep us from reaching more people. Every month take a look at how your doing, what your doing and what needs to be changed in order to serve the needs of your greatest asset people. Never be a slave to your system.
Protect the vision at all cost.
The vision is not yours it is God’s…so protect it. Preach it in a way that inspires people. Delegate it in a way that releases people and stay true to it even if you lose people. One of my mentors, who is a very successful Pastor, once told me, “Kevin at some point your biggest giver is going to want you to change your vision and if you don’t they will leave your church. When this happens … let them leave. You need God’s vision more than you need their money”.
Only do what God has called you and equipped you to do.
You can’t do everything so don’t try. Sometimes we do so many things that we actually don’t do anything. As a church plant there is no way you can have as many ministries as a church that has been in existence for 20 years. It is better to only do 3 things and have them all be great, than do 10 things have have them all be mediocre.
The structure that got you where you are – won’t get you where your going.
If you have a 1400 sq ft house and you want a 4,000 sq ft house you are going to have to change your foundational structure. If you have 200 people and you want 1000 people you are going to have to change your leadership structure. Never change for change sake (that’s stupid) but if you want something in your organization to change … don’t be afraid to change your leadership structure.
Answering teenagers toughest questions about God.
Teenagers have a ton of questions. Many of those questions are geared toward God.
As a church, we should not shy away from those questions but rather, lean into them.
As the Senior Leader of TheCHURCH, I am going to step into these questions and be teaching every week in our student ministry, with the hopes of bringing clarity to a topic that is sometimes very unclear.
Here are the questions we are going toe be answering over the next few weeks.
Week 1 - What do I do when I don't know if I believe in God?
Week 2 - What do I do when I pray and nothing happens?
Week 3 - What do I do when I don't understand the bible?
Week 4 - What do I do when I'm tempted?
Week 5 - What do I do when I mess up?
I can’t wait to jump into the deep end of these topics with our teenagers. If you are a teaching pastor or a parent, I want to encourage you to tackle these topics with your kids. They are looking for answers, so let’s give them what they are looking for.
If you want to dive into these topics a bit more for yourself, check out a short book that I wrote a few years ago. CLICK HERE
Ten things every teenager needs to know.
In order to be healthy and whole. There are four things you have to get a steady diet of. Protein, Clean Carbs, Water, and Fats. If you get a steady diet of these four things will cause you to be healthy and whole. Now how you prepare those thing is where it gets fun, but in reality every time you eat you are ingesting protein, carbs, water and fat.
In order for a teenager to be healthy and whole there are certain topics they need to have a steady diet of. There are 10 pieces of knowledge, that will enable them to live a much healthier life than if they did not know these things.
Through the years there are 10 things that I have preached over and over to our teenagers. Now just like preparing a meal, every time I present these topics to the students I “cook” it a little different, but by the end of their time in my student ministry they have had a steady diet of these 10 topics.
Here are 10 things that every teenager needs to know.
There is a God
Never take for granted that teenagers know there is a God. Most likely in today’s culture they do not.
He is Good
Scripture teaches “Taste and see that the Lord is good”. God is a good God. Your teenagers need to hear over and over again that life isn’t always easy but God is always good.
Jesus is only way to heaven
In our Politically Correct Society the natural tendency teens will have is to believe that their are multiple ways to the “good side of eternity”. You need to tell them the politically incorrect truth that there is only one way and His name is Jesus.
Works do not save them
Trying to get to heaven by your works is trying to jump to the moon. You can never do it. You need help. That’s where Jesus and His death, burial and resurrection come in.
How to walk with God (pray -read word)
How do you pray? How do you read the Bible? How do you understand and live out the Bible? You teenagers need to know this more than they need another Pizza Party.
How to say no to Temptation
How in the world can they consistently say “NO” in a world that always says yes?
What to do when they mess up
Most teenagers have no clue what to do when they mess up? That’s why they quit trying to following Jesus after the 100th time at trying to stop looking at porn. Teach your teenagers how to repent of their sin, reject condemnation and restore their relationship.
Authority is their friend and not their enemy
God blesses thru authority, teach your students that Mom and Dad are not the enemy they are actually their friend.
How to be and have a good friend
Give and it shall be given to you is NOT about money, it is about interpersonal relationships. Teach your students that whatever they give to another person … they will get from someone else.
Why and how to stay sexually pure
How to stay sexually pure is of no consequence unless they first know WHY they should strive for sexual purity.
God has given you an incredible gift. Every week you get to “cook up” a great meal for your teenagers. Make sure that this year you give them a steady diet of the 10 things they need to know.
Note - To get one on one coaching or training for your entire leadership team CLICK HERE.
You are not Gods gift to what you lead. What you lead is Gods gift to you.
Have you ever met someone that was an absolute tool? Sure you have. We all have. One thing that the “tools” of this world have in common is pride. Prideful people think the whole world was made for them and revolves around them. Prideful people may be successful for a season but in the long run they will fall.
Mathew 23:12 records, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted”. Jesus said that whoever exalts or lifts himself up will be humbled. (Meaning, they will be put back down to a lowly position.) However, whoever starts at a lowly position and is humble will be exalted. (Meaning God will promote them and lift them up.)
Look at the words written in 1 Peter 5:5. “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the el- ders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. I remember reading this passage years ago and thinking to my- self, “If there is one person in the world that I don’t want opposing or working against me, it is God”.
Ok, lets be completely honest here. Many people (especially leaders) in America struggle with pride. Because we have had some measure of success in one or two areas of life and leadership, we can be easily be duped into thinking that we, in and of ourselves, have something really good to offer. That we have something really good to say. That we are God’s gift to what ever it is we are leading. That is not only the furthest thing from the truth, that is the very thing that will cause us to fall in some way and not be successful in the long run.
If we are prideful, we may succeed for a little while. Our ministry may grow. We may attract some leaders. Our organization may scale. We may get some hits on our blog, or gain twitter followers. However, and make no mistake about it if we lift ourselves up in our own eyes or in the eyes of others, God will make sure to pull us back down. Our leadership will not last.
Unfortunately, I could give you names of at least twenty-five leaders that I’ve known personally who lost their position in ministry, simply because they fell prey to the power of pride. Please hear me. You need to understand this. “You are not God’s gift to what you lead. What you lead, is Gods gift to you”. God has given you the abilities that you have. God has given you the bud- get that you receive.
God has given you the extreme honor to stand and proclaim his word, lead your company, or be the head of your family. These are not things that you offer. These are not things that you’ve earned. These are gifts. They are opportunities that God himself has offered to you.
I want to encourage you to do five things:
1 - Stay Humble.
2 - Be willing to start and stay in a lowly position.
3 - Be a servant to your leader and those in authority over you.
4 - Be a servant to your co-workers.
5 - Be a servant to the people that you lead.
Those moments that you and I are serving, are the moments you we the most like our master. Philippians 2:5-11 says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”.
Everyday God gives you an amazing gift.
Everyday God gives you the opportunity to be like Jesus. Everyday God gives you the opportunity to serve.
So don’t be a tool. Don’t take credit for what God has given you. Be like Jesus. Look for every opportunity to serve. You might be surprised what happens when you do. Humility is a characteristic that will propel you past previous plateaus.